Are you in debt so much that you can’t see any way out? It’s as if you’re at the bottom of a great big hole you’ve dug and now you’re all the way at the bottom thinking to yourself there’s absolutely no way you’ll dig yourself out again. But there is help to be found if you don’t try to ignore the problem. Many people change their phone numbers so creditors can’t bother them anymore, or they quit opening their collection letters, or they essentially play camel and stick their head in the sand with the hopes that the problem will just go away. But it won’t go away. Once you’re in debt, you need to pay that money back if you ever hope to get credit in the future. The better credit you have, the more money you’ll save over your lifetime. So it pays to get debt reduction help. But where do you look for debt help if bad credit is your curse? You have to call the creditors directly?
Say What?
The credit card companies and collection agencies are probably the last people on your want to call list, but they need to be contacted if you hope to find debt reduction help. Your goal is to get debt reduction help any way you can. Before you call the people you owe, however, get a copy of your credit report and see who and what you owe. If something doesn’t look right to you, such as there’s a charge that doesn’t look familiar, or there’s a company you’ve never heard of, or even if some of your personal information is wrong; dispute it all. You’d be amazed at how much you can raise your credit score and clean up your credit report merely by getting rid of a lot of erroneous information. Once you have a clearer image of who you really owe, then call those companies up and put your negotiation hat on.
You Have Nothing To Lose
When you call the companies up, you have to realize that the person you’re talking to is trained to collect debts. That means they’re not trained to be nice, or polite, or to simply write off your debt because you ask. They are trained to get that debt any way they can. There are rules that creditors have to work by, such as they can’t call you at certain late hours, and they can’t call your family if you tell them to stop, etc. You should familiarize yourself with these laws before you begin dealing with any of those creditors to try and get debt reduction help.
Be Polite But Firm
These creditors are also yelled at on a daily basis so make sure you’re as polite as possible. You don’t want the person on the other end of the phone to put up a wall between you two. Then any negotiations you attempt will be shot down immediately. Be polite but be firm. Tell them you want your interest rate lowered, your debt lowered, and you want to pay them but you can’t in your current predicament. You have nothing to lose. They often will give you debt reduction help so that they can get as much money as possible instead of writing the debt off as a loss.
